According to the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), the White Paper that was issued by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on 8 June 2015 contains incorrect information about the human rights situation in the country. Although the PRC this time has not claimed that it does not need to respect universally accepted human rights as it did in the past,, the White Paper is still inaccurate. The document does not address the human rights situation in Tibet, and the statistics that are contained in it are misleading, as they fail to distinguish between different regions and to compare national averages with the specificities of Tibet.

A leading Tibetan NGO monitoring human rights situation inside Tibet has called the Chinese White paper on human rights an attempt to hide the human rights violations of the People’s Republic of China.

The White Paper is a continuation of the same tactics in previous white papers seeking to present PRC as a champion of human rights by providing misleading information and ignoring the real human rights situation in the PRC and the real purpose of human rights protections, said the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in a release Friday.

The Chinese White Paper issued on June 8 this year, unlike previous White Papers, does not claim China is entitled to exceptions from universally accepted human rights. “Most often, Chinese characteristics involve emphasizing the rights of communities at the expense of the individual. Because human rights are needed to protect the most vulnerable, excusing the suffering of a few individuals for the ‘greater good’ cannot be justified,” said TCHRD in a release on its website.

The only rights group run and administered by Tibetans themselves argues that the Chinese White Paper attempts to distract people with numbers that purportedly demonstrates China’s progress in advancing human rights.

The Tibetan Ngo based here said the Chinese white paper gave statistics without context. “The white paper claims accurately, that the life expectancy has increased and infant and maternal mortality rates have decreased in Tibet. It fails to add that life expectancy and numerous indicators of maternal and child health shows that Tibet is far worse than any area of the PRC. Particularly with life expectancy, where data is available going back to when Tibet was independent, despite a similar starting point, Tibet is now worse off than the PRC,” the release added.

TCHRD accused China of ignoring the treatment of Tibetan prisoners and the forcible resettlement of Tibetan nomads and the “abysmal human rights policy”. “ The white paper officially recognizes that torture has occurred in Chinese prisons. In the context of explaining almost 50,000 cases were subject to illegal investigation activities, the white paper acknowledged that confessions were extorted by torture. The emphasis of the section is on effective prison reforms and assumes that opinions correcting illegal tactics, including torture, as sufficient to satisfy the PRC’s international obligations.”

The TCHRD noted that the amendments many countries made in their laws on terror post the nine eleven attacks in New York. It said that the PRC, and other States, seized the opportunity to relabel human rights defenders and critics of the government as terrorists. “By redefining terrorist, the white paper gives the PRC grounds to claim to be fighting a substantial terrorist threat and continue imprisoning non-violent activists and human rights defenders,” regretted TCHRD.